All Factions in Iraq Agree on One Thing

Quoth Roz Kaveny:

All of the religious factions and militias and Kurdish nationalists and government police in Iraq have one thing that they can agree on, which is killing queers.

Most weeks, three or four people are hacked, stoned, burned or shot to death for being lesbian, gay, bi or trans. The highest Shia religious dignitary Sistani has again promulgated a fatwa calling for the execution of all non-repentant LGBT people - people talk of him as a liberal and in this degree he is - he allows people to repent on pain of death when most of his rivals would just kill. Contacted by the UN about this campaign of murder, the Iraqi government has refused to acknowledge that it is even a problem.

Because despite everthing I am still immersed in het privilege, this never occurred to me. But once you call it to my attention it is so completely obvious.

Sad, angry-making, chilling, creepy. But obvious.

If you complain you disappear, just like the lesbians and queers — Pete Townshend, "Helpless Dancer"